Wooden's Wisdom | Leadership Resource Center

Issue 541 - My Favorite Dynamic Duo: Booker T. Washington and John Wooden: "The Key To Happiness" (Booker T. Washington Part Twenty Two)


Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 11	Issue 541
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MY FAVORITE DYNAMIC DUO: BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AND JOHN WOODEN: "THE KEY TO HAPPINESS" (BOOKER T. WASHINGTON PART TWENTY TWO) John Wooden Video Clip (49 sec.): Coach Wooden discusses the importance of Patience. Booker T. Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, he was the dominant leader of American educational innovation and reform. The two finest teachers of life skills, character development and teamwork I have encountered are Booker T. Washington and John Wooden. Both men had a simple formula for happiness: If you really want to have fun or maybe if your spirits are down a little…go help somebody…you’ll feel great! In his 1902 book, Character Building, Mr. Washington describes how he taught this idea to his students: "I want you to go out into the world, not to have an easy time, but to make sacrifices, and to help somebody else. There are those who need your help and your sacrifice. We want you to help somebody else. We want you not to think of yourselves alone. The more you do to make somebody else happy, the more happiness you will receive in turn. If you want to be happy, if you want to live a contented life, if you want to live a life of genuine pleasure, do something for somebody else. When you feel unhappy, disagreeable, and miserable, do an act of kindness, you will find that you will be made happy. The miserable persons in this world are the ones whose hearts are narrow and hard; the happy ones are those who have great big hearts. Such persons are always happy." Motivational speaker and author Anthony Robbins interviewed Coach Wooden and asked: Coach I have interviewed several wealthy people who are not all that happy. What advice would you give them? Coach’s response was simple: They should find somebody to help. This verse sums up the approach Booker T. Washington and John Wooden took to life: "What I spent, I had; What I saved, I lost; What I gave, I have." Have you helped anyone today? "Do not run after happiness, but seek to do good, and you will find that happiness will run after you." - James Freeman Clarke (1810 – 1888) Click here for personal development exercise: Issue 541. Click here for Printable Poetry: Issue 541. Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Follow @woodenswisdom	COACH'S FAVORITE POETRY AND PROSE The Joys Of Earth Laughter and song and mirth, Roses that drip with dew, These are the joys of earth; Sunshine and skies of blue, Children that romp and play, Stars that twinkle at night, Moonbeams that softly stray Making the meadows light. Birds in the tree tops high, Fish in the waters blue, Rain from the summer sky, Sweethearts whose love is true; Mountains and hills that loom High in the distance fair, Breezes that bear perfume Sweet on the summer air. Nothing to live for, pray? Nothing worthwhile? Look now where e'er you may, Somewhere a smile; Sunshine and morning dew, Blue skies above us, Hearts that are warm and true, Someone to love us. These are the joys of earth, Wealth knows no more; Laughter and song and mirth, Flowers at your door, Children to romp and play, Skies that are blue; Nothing to live for? Pray, What's ailing you? Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959)
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